QUESTION TEXT: In order to relieve traffic congestion, the…
QUESTION TYPE: Paradox
FACTS: A new highway in Gastner makes it easier for suburban people to get downtown. Yet, it now takes longer to travel to work in downtown Gastner.
ANALYSIS: The argument makes a subtle shift: there’s a difference between the suburbs of Gastner, and downtown Gastner. It’s possible that people from the suburbs now have a faster commute. But the stimulus is talking specifically about workers in downtown Gastner.
It’s possible for downtown commutes to go up at the same time that suburban commutes go down. Why? Because if more people from the suburbs get downtown, then downtown roads will be more crowded. This is a common situation in real world traffic patterns.
___________
- This just tells us a fact about where people are coming from. It’s irrelevant: the question is about the commutes of workers in downtown Gastner. That doesn’t refer to suburbanites.
- The highway certainly sounds convenient for those who live in the suburbs. So this answer is probably true. But who cares? You’re looking for an answer that explains the situation.
- If you picked this, you probably thought that stoplights slowed people down. That’s not what stoplights do: their purpose is to control traffic and improve safety. They might slow things down, but that’s not an assumption you should make. (Good traffic control can speed up traffic.)
An answer should be right without you having to make assumptions to support it. - This is a very tempting answer. Road repair work certainly can cause congestion.
But, this answer says the road work happened while the highway was under construction. But the stimulus says the delays happened after the highway was completed.
So the road work should have slowed traffic before the highway was finished, not after.
(You might have thought: “but what if the roadwork was still going on? Wouldn’t that slow traffic?”. Yes, but we’re looking for an increase in commute time. If the road work had been going on continuously, then it wouldn’t suddenly cause an increase when the new highway was built.) - CORRECT. This explains the increase in commute time. It appears that the new highway caused more congestion downtown on the roads nearest the new highway. This would increase commute time for downtown workers.
Free Logical Reasoning lesson
Get a free sample of the Logical Reasoning Mastery Seminar. Learn tips for solving LR questions
MemberYeo Eun Yoon says
Hi Graeme! Just a bit confused on the wording of “workers in downtown Gastner” and would appreciate your clarification. Does this phrase refer to workers who live and work in downtown? I thought the phrase can refer to all workers that work in downtown (including those that commute from the suburbs) and thus (A) could explain their increase in average commute (assuming that people who used to commute through a different road or through some other means have started driving on the highway to take advantage of it).
FounderGraeme Blake says
I think it could mean either workers who live downtown, or the commute time of all workers *while* they are in downtown (but not on the highway)
Suburban workers probably have a faster commute overall, but slower once they get off the highway and hit the new congestion.
Hope that helps!